Vehicles such as automobiles are each provided with an instrument panel in a front portion of the vehicle compartment. This instrument panel includes a center equipment placement section or the like provided in a center portion thereof in the vehicle width direction.
An in-vehicle electronic apparatus such as an audio unit and other types of apparatuses are set in this center equipment placement section.
The in-vehicle electronic apparatus of this kind is attached to the vehicle body by use of in-vehicle electronic apparatus fixture brackets.
Each in-vehicle electronic apparatus fixture bracket includes a retreat structure part for allowing the in-vehicle electronic apparatus to retreat almost toward the front of the vehicle body (for reference, see Japanese Patent Application Publication No. Hei. 9-48292).
To put it in detail, the retreat structure part described in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. Hei. 9-48292 is so configured that: fixture holes are provided in each in-vehicle electronic apparatus fixture bracket to have an in-vehicle electronic apparatus inserted therein, and are each formed into an elongated hole having a neck part therein. When the in-vehicle electronic apparatus is inserted into the elongated holes with pressure (in other words, when a dynamic load is inputted), attachment screws go over the respective neck parts. Thus only the in-vehicle electronic apparatus is allowed to move forward and diagonally downward along the elongated holes in parallel with the in-vehicle electronic apparatus fixture brackets. Because this configuration allows the in-vehicle electronic apparatus to retreat, the dynamic load is alleviated or absorbed.
Indeed, the fixture structure for an in-vehicle electronic apparatus described in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. Hei. 9-48292 is designed for the center equipment placement section that has a relatively simple surface shape not swelling out toward the rear of the vehicle body; and is configured to allow a dynamic load to be directly inputted into the in-vehicle electronic apparatus. Thus, the fixture structure allows the in-vehicle electronic apparatus to retreat only by moving in parallel along the elongated holes. This design enables the fixture structure to cope even with a parallel movement of the in-vehicle electronic apparatus along the elongated holes. However, the fixture structure may not allow an in-vehicle electronic apparatus to retreat only by moving in parallel as described above, in a case where, for example, the center equipment placement section has a relatively complicated surface shape such as a surface shape swelling out toward the rear of the vehicle body to a large extent, and also is configured to allow a dynamic load to be indirectly inputted into the in-vehicle electronic apparatus through an article.
An object of the present invention is to provide a fixture structure for an in-vehicle electronic apparatus which allows an in-vehicle electronic apparatus to retreat in a desirable condition even when a center equipment placement section has a relatively complicated surface shape and is configured to allow an dynamic load to be indirectly inputted into the in-vehicle electronic apparatus due to the presence of an article in between.